U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell isn’t the sort of judge you would call a weak-kneed, bleeding-heart, soft-on-crime liberal. From his clerkship with then-Appeals Court Judge Antonin Scalia, to his provocative articles as a University of Utah law professor, to his (unsuccessful) U.S. Supreme Court argument that police shouldn’t have to warn suspects they can remain […]

The ruling, which hinged on jurisdiction issues, may not put an end to the case, which began working it way through the courts in 1991. There are more than 11,000 claims pending and attorneys at Miami-based Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson expect to spend years getting all of the claims paid. “We expect

The collapse of one of Britain’s most expensive criminal prosecutions has left taxpayers footing an estimated bill of £65m. A judge finally called a halt to the complex fraud hearing after defence lawyers accused the prosecution of withholding vital evidence which had denied the defendants the chance of a fair trial. It is believed to

Former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr has filed, on behalf of seven plaintiffs from across the state, a lawsuit challenging state and local incentives given to Dell Inc. to convince the company to invest $100 million in a 1,500-employee computer manufacturing plant in southeast Winston-Salem. Orr, now executive director of the Raleigh-based N.C. Institute

Reed Smith is in merger talks with Chicago litigation and IP specialist Wildman Harrold in a deal that would create a 1,200-lawyer firm, Legal Week can reveal, in the latest merger bid to hit the consolidating US legal market. Sources at Reed Smith confirmed the talks, which are at an early stage. A successful tie-up

A federal appeals court said yesterday that the Securities and Exchange Commission must produce a cost-benefit analysis to justify a rule that boards of mutual funds must have an independent chairman and at least 75 percent of directors who are independent. The ruling, by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia

A federal judge has declined to dismiss a civil suit brought by a husband and wife who claim that Sidley Austin Brown & Wood and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., offered a tax shelter the firms knew would be challenged by the Internal Revenue Service. Southern District Judge Shira Scheindlin said William and Sharon Seippel’s complaint

The most famous ketchup stain in London has claimed its first victim. Richard Phillips, the City lawyer whose suit was soiled by the misdirected tomato sauce, has resigned from his position, it was announced yesterday. Mr Phillips, 36, had decided to take a “long-planned” study break from work as the spillage continued to exercise the

Last year, Tsan Abrahamson jumped from her post as worldwide IP and licensing counsel at LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. to start her own firm focused on sweepstakes and trademark law. Now she’s getting reinforcements. Katherine Spelman, a partner at DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, joined the firm last week, along with Deborah Davis Han, a former

It was likely the final chapter in a story that has troubled a generation. On the 41st anniversary of the disappearance of three young, idealistic civil rights workers near here, a jury pronounced Edgar Ray Killen guilty today of three counts of manslaughter in their deaths. Mr. Killen, 80, sat in a wheelchair, the thin